Modern medicine helps people with harmful genetic mutations to survive, which are passed on to other generations, as a result of which it accumulates in the human genome and leads to an increase in the number of severe ailments, in particular, diseases of the immune system, said a professor at the Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics of Virginia (USA) Mark Reimers at an open lecture in Moscow.
Such a defect as "cleft lip" in our time is easily eliminated. But it can also easily be inherited by children, influencing other genes.
In most cases, the occurrence of mutations leads to negative consequences for the body. As a rule, it is possible to determine the nature of new genetic changes (positive or negative) in a person only after birth.
The number of mutations in the human genome (which has 20-25,000 genes) has increased by 1.5 million over the past ten thousand years, Reimers said.
“We accumulate mutations, and pretty quickly. We do not see this as a problem as long as the body has a second 'healthy' copy of the gene, but (negative) consequences occur when both copies mutate,”added Reimers.
Human individuals with negative mutations in their genes were “rejected” by natural selection during evolution. Physical or mental illness was the cause of the immediate death of newborns or their short life span.
With the development of medicine, it has become possible to maintain the functioning of organisms with harmful mutations that are passed on to the next generations and accumulate in the genome. According to Reimers himself, it has already been proven that an increase in the number of such mutations in the immune system is one of the causes of autoimmune diseases.
Schizophrenia, according to one version, also appeared as a consequence of recent changes in the human genome, however, this assumption has not yet been confirmed. The professor explained that great apes, dogs and other animals do not suffer from schizophrenia, possibly due to natural selection, which would leave no chance of survival for mutant individuals.
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